With lockout over, fans ready for NHL's return

Monday

Jan 7, 2013 at 6:00 AMJan 7, 2013 at 6:39 AM

Hockey fans concerned that the National Hockey League team owners and players would let this year go by without a game awoke Sunday to news that the puck may be dropped soon. With the owners and the players coming to an agreement that should put together a season of 48 games or so, fans of the sport felt relieved they could watch hockey again.

By Scott J. Croteau TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Hockey fans concerned that the National Hockey League team owners and players would let this year go by without a game awoke Sunday to news that the puck may be dropped soon.

With the owners and the players coming to an agreement that should put together a season of 48 games or so, fans of the sport felt relieved they could watch hockey again.

“I'm a hockey fan, and quite frankly, basketball doesn't do it for me,” 36-year-old Brian Chabot of Worcester said at Buffone Rink in Worcester. “I was dreading once football was over, what that time would be like without hockey.”

Like many people, Chabot headed online to find out the prospective schedule.

“Right away, I was trying to find out what the schedule would be and who they would open up with,” he said.

Hudson High senior Bryan Carter still hadn't heard the big news yet when he showed up at the New England Sports Center in Marlboro on Sunday afternoon for a Boston Junior Bruins game. The locker room chatter soon enlightened him.

Carter said he will still watch and buy tickets to Bruins games same as ever and that even a shortened season still will be fulfilling because of playoff hockey. He did think, though, that NHL owners damaged their brand by forcing a lockout.

“Hockey was building and building, and it was getting really popular after last year,” said the 18-year-old Carter, a standout defenseman on Hudson's 2012 Division 3 state title squad. “There were a lot of (people from) other fan bases that joined in and starting liking hockey, so I feel they lost a lot of people.”

Teammate Zach Byczko of Auburn is a 2012 St. John's High grad and former standout forward for the Pioneers. Byczko is well versed on the details of the lockout having done a research paper for a class at Worcester State last fall that examined why the NHL has more work stoppages than other top sports leagues.

He felt both sides were to blame, but that the owners were asking for more than they deserved. Byczko found out that the season had been saved when he was going through his Twitter feed this morning.

“I was pretty upset that they had to cancel the Winter Classic, that's always been a favorite of mine, but getting the season back in the swing is definitely awesome. I'm definitely going to watch and follow (the NHL) again,” Byczko said.

The Boston Celtics are playing well below the expectations of New England sports fans, leaving people without much to root for once the National Football League's season comes to an end — hopefully with another New England Patriots Super Bowl win.

Manuel Nogueira of Hudson was watching his son's hockey practice at Buffone and uttered a quick “Thank God” when asked about the lockout ending.

Even if teams lose the causal fans, Nogueira said true hockey fans will still watch games on television and head to the TD Garden to watch the Boston Bruins play.

He plans to attend at least one game this season.

When it comes to the players and owners, Nogueira thinks they all thought too much about the money and not the fans or workers who rely on income connected to the games.

“I think both the owners and the players are being greedy about it and those who are suffering are the businesses around the arenas and the fans,” Nogueira said. “I think they are all getting overpaid.”

Restaurants near the arenas must have lost money, he said, along with people who work the arenas. His biggest fear is that ticket prices will increase because of the lockout, further hitting fans in their pockets.

Margaret Abboud of Worcester was at NESC to watch her 11-year-old son Christian play a youth-level game. She has been disappointed that they've been unable to watch NHL games together. A Bruins fan since the days of Bobby Orr, Abboud is hoping the league's third major stoppage is its last one for a while.

“The frequency is very frustrating,” Abboud said. “I just don't understand why with the salaries these guys have why they have to do this because it doesn't happen in the regular work force where people have complaints with unions over wages with the nurses — they go back to work within a week or two. I've never seen something drag on as long as (the NHL lockouts) and it's frustrating.”

A hockey coach for more than 20 years, Tom Lyons of Stoddard, N.H., also draws a connection to past lockouts. Lyons was miffed by commissioner Gary Bettman's lack of urgency, but still loves the NHL too much to even boycott the first game.

“Bettman being booed last year when he went to hand out the Stanley Cup, I felt as though at that particular time, for him being the leader, he should have been getting right on his horse the next day saying, 'Let's get this done quickly,' ” Lyons said. “I think it is a negative on him having three labor disputes within his regime.”

Jeff Miller, 44, of Worcester, was wearing a Bruins shirt while talking about the lockout ending. He wasn't happy that games were lost.

“It's disappointing it has been locked out for so long,” he said. “We are not going to get the whole season.”

Chabot said if the agreement stopped any chance of a lockout for the next eight to 10 years, then he can deal with what happened this season.

Standing outside Buffone Rink with his 9-year-old daughter Carolyn, Mark Schairer, 37, of Northbridge said he watched the Worcester Sharks of the American Hockey League and his daughter's Starhawks games to fill the void.

“That's kept the hockey blood pumping,” he said. Carolyn was happy the Bruins would be playing again, too.

Fans wouldn't be upset if the Bruins won the Stanley Cup in a shortened season. A championship is a championship, they said.

“It is still going to be competitive. I think it will be more competitive,” Nogueira said. “Everyone is going to fight from beginning to the end.”